Featured photos

Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Photograph by: Mark van Manen
, PNG

VANCOUVER -- For years, Vancouver resident Gurpreet Gill was simply a missing person whose desperate family awaited answers about what happened to her.

Now she has been confirmed as a murder victim, and her husband, Jaswant Singh Gill, has been charged with killing her.

Vancouver Police Sgt. Kevin McLaren said Monday that the mystery of Gurpreet’s disappearance was solved when human remains found in Richmond in 2006 were confirmed two weeks ago as those of the missing woman.

McLaren said that police had few clues to go on after Gurpreet’s relatives reported her missing to Vancouver Police seven years ago.

“As the missing person investigation proceeded, it became clear she had likely met with foul play,” McLaren said. “For years, investigators looked for the evidence that would link a suspect to the murder. Recently, they found what they needed.”

Jaswant Gill, 40, was arrested in Vancouver over the weekend and charged with one count of second-degree murder. He appeared in Vancouver Provincial Court on Monday and was remanded in custody until Feb. 25.

The offence date is listed in court records as Feb. 14, 2006.

Gill was already known to police when he became a suspect in his wife’s murder.

McLaren said Gurpreet’s family in India became worried seven years ago when they didn’t hear from the 33-year-old for an extended period of time.

“Even though initially there were very few clues, our investigators never gave up. They believed they owed it to the family and the victim to stay on the case until it was solved,” McLaren said. “We know that there is nothing that will ever make up for the tragedy and loss the family has suffered. But we hope that today’s announcement offers them some measure of comfort.”

He said there were many details of the case that he could not discuss, but that police looked at other suspects besides the husband who have not been charged, McLaren said.

Gurpreet came to Canada after an arranged marriage in 2000. She and her husband had no children.

“It was a file with international ramifications and that definitely had effects on the length of the investigation,” he said.

Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Adam Palmer said the city’s murder rate was at its lowest level in decades in 2012 with just nine slayings.

“Our priority is to reduce violence in our community and get those who commit it or pose the greatest threat off the streets and into jail,” Palmer said. “We target killers.”

He said that in more than half of the 2012 murders, charges have been laid and more are expected.

But he wouldn’t comment on unsolved gang murders like the high-profile public execution of Sandip Duhre at the Vancouver Wall Centre in January 2012.

Palmer said that in 2011, Vancouver had 15 murders, and police had a 73-per-cent solve rate.

“We know that there is no single guaranteed tactic that can reduce violence or murder, and so we deploy as many tactics and programs that we can think of to get guns and killers off the streets,” he said.

“The list of these programs is a long one, but they include on-going initiatives such as the Firearms Interdiction Team, Restaurant Watch, Bar Watch and the Lima program. All of these target gangsters, guns and alcohol.”